


Laid the Foundation

by Moebius



Series: The Heart and Understanding [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Impossible Wolf, canon AU, this went somewhere unexpected, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 13:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6197623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moebius/pseuds/Moebius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor was never very good at goodbyes, at least not the sort with actual endings, and neither is John Smith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laid the Foundation

**Author's Note:**

> This installment's Austen-inspired title is from Pride and Prejudice: “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” 
> 
> This sort of wraps up one arc and starts another? I wasn't planning on arcs, but here we are.

Rose was at Torchwood for the day, having promised her dad she’d make an appearance, reading through some files about shapeshifting aliens that had been spotted on the moon. She’d never met them before, but Torchwood had asked her to help them decide whether or not they were likely to come to Earth and, if so, whether they’d be a threat. She had no idea, but she was trying to find some kind of clue in the mishmash of code words and grainy pictures.

A flash of blue caught her eye. She didn’t think much of it until it flashed again about ten minutes later. She stood from her desk and poked her head out into the hallway, where she saw a familiar silhouette. “John!”

John turned on his heel, sneakers squeaking on the floor. He grinned. “Oh, hello! Didn’t expect to see you today.”

Her eyes flickered down to his arm, which he immediately hid behind his back. “Is that what I think it is?”

He at least had the courtesy to look a little sheepish, and not to lie to her. He let his arm fall to his side, where she saw the edge of a vortex manipulator peeking out past the cuff of his suit. “You could come with me.”

She looked up. “Where? Space? Time?”

“Of course. Earth’s fantastic, but it’s a bit finite, don’t you think? About time,” he winked, “we – I’m moving on.” He shifted awkwardly and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You can bring Clara.”

Rose sighed. She’d love to travel time and space with Clara. A part of her would even love to travel time and space with John, caught in the nostalgia of young love and adventure. But doing both at the same time seemed… like a recipe for disaster. At the least. And disaster didn’t have the draw that it used to. “I think I’m settled.”

John’s face fell. “That… oh. Well, it happens.” His tone made her wonder how many times, exactly, it had.

But she’d been different, hadn’t she? He’d loved her, and she’d broken his heart. She sighed again. “I’m sorry, John. It’s not that I’m settled in a place, it’s a per-”

“Honestly, Rose, I think that’s worse. But thanks.” His voice was sharp. Shades of Donna, she knew. In their years together, she’d learned more about who the Doctor had been from all the things that John did and said that had never been there before. He’d explained, several times, about the metacrisis, but it never made much sense to her. He was the man she knew and a different man entirely, both at the same time. But none of that had mattered when they were together.

Now they weren’t together anymore. She missed him, but the longing had faded. It wasn’t her lover John she missed, it was her friend the Doctor. Except John was still her friend the Doctor, kind of, and now that he was back she wished he wouldn’t go. But she couldn’t give him what he was looking for, because it was no longer hers to give. It was Clara’s. “You know, she’d tell me to go with you.”

“She would?”

“Yeah. I think she’d think I wouldn’t.”

“She’d be right, wouldn’t she?”

Rose shrugged. “The first night I met her,” John frowned, but she ignored it. “Actually, it was the second night. The second night I met her, she looked up at the stars and I looked at her eyes, and I think I understood why you asked me.”

“Asked you what?”

“To come with you. I was lonely, and sad. Like you were.” She reached out and took his hand. “Do you remember?”

His response was quiet. “Yes. I remember.”

“She told me she couldn’t save me, that it wasn’t possible for one person to save another. But she didn’t know about me and you.”

“My Rose,” he said, nodding. He understood, she could tell. There were tears in his eyes. “If you change your mind… both of you.”

Rose nodded. “You’ll know.”

They stood for another moment, silently, and then he let go of her hand and walked away.

\--

Their flat was empty when she got back. Rose was surprised for a second, before she remembered that Clara had had plans with some fellow teachers that night. So she made herself some tea and settled on the couch, in the dim light, unsure whether she wanted to curl up or lose herself in a book or movie; anything that wasn’t her life right now.

It was there, a few hours later, that Clara found her. The tea was cold, and Rose _had_ curled up, but with a book, that had fallen from her hands to the floor. It was a copy of _The Illustrated Man_ , which Clara most certainly hadn’t given to her. She pulled it from the floor and smiled when she saw the sticker from the library.

Rose stirred. “Mmm, sorry. Forgot you were going out tonight.”

“You’re sorry you fell asleep reading? Don’t be, it’s cute.” Clara leaned in and kissed Rose’s forehead. As she was pulling away, Rose reached over and grabbed her wrist. It was then Clara saw the redness around her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I said goodbye to John.”

“Oh.” Clara sat on the edge of the couch, motioning for Rose to give her some more room. They’d talked about talking to him together, but apparently something had come up. “Forever?”

“For a long time.”

Clara nodded. “You could have texted, I would have come home.”

“I know.” Rose shifted again, sitting up slightly so she could lean into Clara’s small frame. Clara put an arm around her. “I feel like I said goodbye to my childhood.”

“That’s a bit dramatic.”

There was a brief moment before Rose laughed. “I guess so, yeah.”

“Did he ask you to go with him?”

Another moment of quiet, and then Rose nodded. “Both of us, actually.”

“Ah.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re mad I answered for you.”

“I’m not mad, I’m curious what you thought I would say.”

“That I should go. That you want to go. That we have lives, but what’s a trip here and there?”

“Well,” Clara had to admit, “that’s fairly close.”

“I can ring him and tell him to come back.” She thought about it. “It’d be strange to travel, all three by one vortex manipulator. I think he was only offering to be polite.”

“Mmmhmm.”

Rose pulled away from Clara. “You don’t believe me.”

“I don’t want to fight about it.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You didn’t ask a question.”

A buzz sounded, breaking them both from the moment. Clara quirked an eyebrow and Rose shrugged in response. Clara stood and opened the door, revealing John. He waved. “Hello, long time no see!”

 

“How long?” Rose joined Clara at the door. “Because I just saw you this morning.”

“Ah.” John’s brows knit. “Three months?”

Clara looked between the two. “Should I leave you to talk?”

“No,” John replied. “This concerns you, too. It’s your kids. Something’s got to be done about your kids.”

Rose’s jaw dropped, but Clara rolled her eyes. “That’s from _Back to the Future II_.”

“You have that in this universe? Well, right. A movie buff!” He pushed past them and flopped down on the couch, kicking his legs out. “I _do_ think you should come with me, though.”

“To the future?” Clara looked at Rose, whose face was a combination of disbelief and anger.

“Doesn’t have to be. Could be the past. Or Mars. Or the moon! Ever been to the moon, Clara?”

She shook her head.

“It’s nice this time of year. Anyway,” he gestured between the two of them. “If it were about your kids, I couldn’t tell you, could I? Paradoxes and the like. Did I break up an argument?”

Clara frowned, but it was Rose answered. “Are you here for a reason? I said goodbye.” And even though she’d been hoping to see him again, she hadn’t expected it to be so soon. She should have guessed, though. It was very much like him.

John frowned. “I know. And I quite honestly don’t expect you to come with me.” He looked between them and smiled. “My Rose and her impossible girl. I have a gift for you.” He tugged at the leather strap on his wrist, removing the vortex manipulator, and put it on the coffee table.

Both women stared at it for a moment, silent. It was Clara who spoke up first. “I’m sorry, is that the time travel bracelet?”

“Vortex manipulator,” Rose and John answered her at the same time. John raised his eyebrow but clamped his mouth shut and waved for Rose to continue. “Yeah. He never liked them.”

“Not the most elegant form of time travel, but it’ll do in a pinch if you don’t have a TARDIS.”

Rose’s eyes shot over to him. “You have a TARDIS?”

“You don’t,” he said firmly, as he stood. “But now you have that. Maybe we’ll see each other out there some time, yeah?” He took Clara’s hand and shook it twice, then leaned over. “Careful with her, I’m practically omniscient.”

“I’m not sure how you can be _practically_ omni-anything,” she responded, pulling back and going to stand by Rose. “But no need to worry.”

“Good! Great!” He waved at them, a short, frantic wave. “See you both sometime.”

And out he went. Rose tried to call after him but the door slammed before she could even open her mouth.

“That could have gone worse,” Clara remarked, looking at Rose. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” There were tears at the edges of her eyes, but they remained unshed. “He left us a vortex manipulator.”

“I know.”

“To travel.”

“It would appear so.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

Clara looked down at the table, then back to Rose. “So. When do we leave?”

Rose grinned.

 

 

 


End file.
